MELBOURNE -- Telstra today announced a profit after tax and minority interests of $3.7 billion for the year ended 30 June 2008, an increase of 13.5%. With Telstra's end-to-end transformation driving improved results across the company, free cash flow increased 33%, or $956 million, to $3.9 billion.
Other financial highlights:
Final ordinary dividend of 14 cents per share, fully franked.
Total revenue growth of 4.7%, exceeded guidance of 3% to 4%.
Reported EBITDA of $10.4 billion, up 5.6%, exceeded guidance of 4% to 5%; EBITDA margin of 42.2%, up 0.5 percentage points.
Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) increased 7.7% to $6.2 billion on a reported basis. EBIT excluding accelerated depreciation at CSL New World increased 9.1%, exceeding guidance of 6% to 8%.
Accrued capital expenditure was $4.9 billion, down 16.7%, in line with guidance of $4.6 billion to $4.9 billion.
Strong sales growth at all retail business units, Sensis and key product segments, including broadband and mobiles, with sales revenue up 4.2% to $24.7 billion, a $1 billion increase for the second consecutive year.
Mobile services revenue grew 12.3% to $5.5 billion as the Next G™ network's superior coverage, speed, capacity, reliability and services brought blended ARPU growth of 7.8% to $49 per month.
Retail broadband revenue grew 49% to $1.8 billion, driven by both market share and ARPU increases.
PSTN revenue was $6.7 billion, a 3.2% decline for the year compared with 4.4% in fiscal 2007. The number of retail PSTN lines has grown for 14 consecutive months.
Telstra Chief Executive Officer Mr Sol Trujillo said: "Telstra's turnaround continues to gain momentum on all fronts, with our fiscal year guidance met or exceeded for the third consecutive year.
"With such strong results, Telstra is leading the Australian market while continuing to rank at or near the top among global peers on key financial and operational metrics such as mobile services revenue growth, broadband market share gains, PSTN line loss mitigation, and advertising and directories revenue growth."
Telstra Corp. Ltd. (ASX: TLS; NZK: TLS)